


Character Study: Fredrick Zoller

by orphan_account



Category: Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Genre: Character Study, Weimar Germany, oh my god though he is NOT A POOR PRECIOUS BABY
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-20
Updated: 2013-07-20
Packaged: 2017-12-20 17:33:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/889955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>          Shosanna, wasn't falling for the young German, by any stretch. However his exploits, as well as his charming manner, can't help but impress. But his referring to Goebbels as "Joseph", like they're friends, is all she needed to get on the right side of things. This young man is trouble with a capital "T", and she needs to stay far f***ing away from him.</i><br/>- From the Inglourious Basterds script.</p><p><b>a character study of sorts on Fredrick Zoller, spanning from his childhood to that last night in the cinema in Paris</b>. I'm doing this in multiple chapters because the other studies like this I've done have been one chapter each, and that gets tedious and drags on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Character Study: Fredrick Zoller

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the fact that literally every piece on Zoller I've read completely assassinates his character, and... well, he's definitely one of the more complex roles Brühl has played.  
> He shouldn't be reduced to some simple archetype, and I think that Brühl played Zoller very well. It wasn't even particularly _subtle_ , but whatever.
> 
> contains references from the [script](http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Inglourious-Basterds.html)
> 
> Completely unoriginal title but whatever.
> 
> * * *
> 
> here are some cultural notes, so you aren't all confused:  
> \- The Weimar Republic (and its economy): I can ramble on and on for hours about the Weimar Republic and the social, economic, and political situation of the time, but in short, [here's a historical conversion chart](http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/projects/currency.htm). Note that it uses British notation, so when it says "billion", it means the american equivalent of "trillion". And [here's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic) the Wikipedia article on it.  
> \- However, starting in late 1924, the US helped to bail out the Weimar Republic, so Germany had a period of prosperity from 1925-9, ending with the stock market crash in October 1929  
> \- Weimar Munich's political climate was so conservative that it was considered reactionary.  
> \- Breeching. Basically, up through WWI, a boy wore a dress until he was between like 4-8, when they started putting him into shorts and then gradually working their way to full-length trousers. Fredrick was probably about two when he was breeched. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeching_\(boys\)).  
> \- The Lyceum is a 6-year high school for girls; I'm not even sure if they exist anymore, as education in Germany is now largely coeducational.  
> \- Gymnasium (pl. Gymasien) are secondary schools focused on latin, greek, and the humanities (a "traditional" education)  
> \- Hauptschule (pl. Hauptschulen) are secondary schools that only run for 6 years and give a more practical and well-rounded education. Upon graduation from Haupschule, one can sit an exam to finish up the next three years at Gymnasium, take up an apprenticeship, or enter the workforce.

Fredrick Zoller was born on 16 June 1922 in his parents' home in Munich, Germany. Named for a famous American actor, he was the youngest in his family, and the only surviving son. His parents had had one son before even his eldest sister, but this son had died at a little under a year old. Unfortunately, his mother was not so lucky as Fredrick was. She died when Fredrick was a little over two years old, during childbirth. This child, another boy, was sick and did not last the night. It was thus up to Helga, the oldest, who was now sixteen years old, to run the household.

Needless to say she was forced to grow up quickly, and ended up mothering her five sisters and Fredrick. This was all for the best, as their father's lack of ambition was even more painfully clear in the horrible economic climate of the early 1920s. He was lazy and did absolutely nothing to help put food on the table. He left when Fredrick was seven, and the family never saw him again. No one was sorry to see him go.

The family's only saving grace was the cinema. They owned the cinema, and the apartment over it, and thus they were spared of risk of homelessness. The cinema managed to keep bringing in patrons, despite the horrible economy, and managed to support the family enough that they never were in danger of starving. They always had food on the table, even though clothes sometimes needed to be handed down, and, until Fredrick was breeched, he used primarily his elder sisters' old baby dresses... and even once he was breeched, more than one of his shirts and even a few pairs of his shorts had formerly been part of a dress that belonged to one of his six sisters.

Of course, Helga did not do all the work. The six sisters all did their fair share of housework, setting up the marquee, selling tickets, changing reels, buying groceries... and this was on top of school work, at least until they'd each finished up at the Lyceum. None of the sisters went to Gymnasium, so none of them went to university. Such a thing would have only served to be a distraction in those days, anyway. 

Fredrick was the youngest by nearly four years, so all of his sisters babied him. If they had a bit extra food, it went to Fredrick; if they managed to have some spending money, they bought something for Fredrick. As such, he grew up a bit more spoiled than other boys in Weimar Munich... but he couldn't help it. And he certainly wasn't in any position to complain about it.

When he was old enough, however, he was put to work. He sold tickets first, and then, when he was strong enough, his sisters showed him how to change the reel. They also tasked him with putting the names up on the marquee, which Fredrick did without complaint. He enjoyed working at the cinema – most of all, he enjoyed seeing films for free – so he rarely complained when he was asked to help out. Despite the fact that his sisters babied him, when he was old enough to clean up after himself at home, he did so. He cleaned up his own messes, made his own bed, and grudgingly did his own homework. His sisters still spoiled him, of course; he was the baby of the family, and they all adored him. He still got a little bit extra to eat, and some sweets when they weren't so scarce, and a new suit every year for his classes. That didn't change.

When Fredrick finished primary school, he sat the exam to get into Gymnasium. He passed, and he became the first person in his family since his grandfather to go to Gymnasium – although he reasoned that his grandfather might not count, as the man had failed out in his second year, and had had to go to Hauptschule. Fredrick, however, assured himself that he would finish Gymnasium, sit his Abitur, and make something of himself. At the very least, he assured himself that he would never end up like his father.

It didn't take long after Hitler's appointment as chancellor until Nazi propaganda seeped through to the schools. Helga, in particular, wasn't fond of the Nazi indoctrination that Fredrick was receiving in his classes, but she knew better than to speak out against it. Fredrick wasn't in any immediate danger, and Helga wasn't sure how long the Reich would last. If she spoke out, however... well, who knew what would happen to her? So she rolled her eyes, scoffed about the propaganda in private, and kept her mouth shut in front of anyone but her brother and sisters.

The Zoller family was originally apolitical. They might have leaned a bit more toward conservative politics, given where they lived, but they were officially all apolitical. As such, they were in no immediate danger due to their political affiliation... and they knew better than to talk.

But in December of 1936, they were forced to sign Fredrick, then fourteen years old, up for the Hitler Youth, as attendance became mandatory for all “Aryan” boys. The youngest sister, Charlotte, had fortunately just turned eighteen in November, so she was, fortunately, exempt from the League of German Maidens, as were all the other sisters. Only Fredrick was to receive the Nazi indoctrination of the Third Reich in full.

**Author's Note:**

>  ~~So the next part, if all goes according to plan, should be Fredrick's years in the Hitler Youth.~~  
>  I wrote this fic literal years ago, and I'm not going to finish it. I've decided to orphan it.


End file.
